This book is a fascinating look at how Facebook started and what it means to go from a college dorm room to a multi-billion dollar valuation in just a few short years.

It is not surprising that there are some casualties on a rocket ride like that, but you cannot explain away all of the deception, backstabbing and betrayal that easily. The book points a finger squarely at Mark Zuckerberg the original brains behind the operation, as the likely cause of many of Facebook’s troubles. The book does elude to the irony that is someone like Mark Zuckerberg, who is by all accounts socially awkward if not entirely inept, running the biggest social networking site the world has ever seen.

The book is a work of non-fiction (or near non-fiction), but it reads like a fiction novel and is easily digestible.

I am the first to admit that I resisted the lure of Facebook until late in 2009, so I was kind of late to the Facebook party. Now with all of the bad press Facebook has been getting lately because of their seemingly cavalier handling of their user’s personal data, I am starting to question whether I made the right decision to create an account at all. This book clearly raises the question as to whether you should be trusting your personal data to Mark Zuckerberg.

JavaOne 2012

CON8122 - Amazon Web Services for Java Developers

Abstract: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is an ideal platform to develop on and to use for hosting enterprise Java applications. The zero up-front costs and virtually infinite scalability of resources enable Java EE developers to start small and be confident that their infrastructure will grow with their application. In addition, the nature of AWS and the services available help solve some of the problems Java developers often face in more-traditional environments. In this session, you will be introduced to AWS concepts, gain an understanding of how existing Java EE applications can be migrated to the AWS environment, what advantages there are in doing that, and how to architect a new Java EE application from the ground up to leverage the AWS environment for maximum benefit.